More trains arriving on time for rail users in Essex

17 May 2019, 16:18 | Updated: 17 May 2019, 17:04

There's been less waiting around for trains in Essex recently.

Rail operator for the area, Greater Anglia, says latest figures show punctuality across their network has improved for a fifth consecutive month, with over nine out of ten trains running on time.

The best performance was achieved on the Marks Tey - Sudbury branch line, with 98.1% of trains on time, the Norwich - Sheringham line with 97.6%, the London - Harwich line with 96.5%, the Norwich - Lowestoft with 95.9%, the London - Colchester / Clacton-on-Sea / Walton-on-the-Naze with 95.8%, and the Norwich - Great Yarmouth line with 95.3%.

The number of delays on Greater Anglia services are also at the lowest ever recorded - despite the train operator running more trains, which are increasingly ageing, and carrying more passengers than ever.

Jay Thompson, Greater Anglia train service delivery director, said: "We know how important a consistent, reliable service is for our customers so this is really great news for them.

"Many of our morning and evening peaks services are now regularly operating at 100 per cent punctuality, which is great news for the thousands of commuters who travel with us every day.

"But there is still more we can do and we are carefully monitoring all of our services, looking at what causes every single minute of delay and how to prevent a similar delay another time.

"We have also set up a joint performance improvement taskforce with Network Rail to look in detail at the causes of delays and we are bringing in a team of external consultants to review our approach to see how we can improve further still."

"The introduction of our brand-new fleet of trains will also help to make the service more resilient, as the current eight different types of train will be replaced with just three types, making them easier to maintain."

Overall annual average punctuality across Greater Anglia is now 88.1% - higher than the national average of 86.1%.

The statistics quoted are the latest Public Performance Measure (PPM) figures for 1-27 April 2019.